Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are that of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the Union for Traditional Judaism, unless otherwise indicated.
Savage, brutal, depraved, cruel, inhumane — adjectives that describe Hamas’ deeds. And yet none fully captures what happened on Shabbat Sh’mini Atzeret in Israel. What’s more, while it is important to emphasize those fitting words, it is not enough.
The numerous immoral acts have been publicized repeatedly, hour after hour on the news, for nearly a week. The horrors are repeatedly recounted at Jewish gatherings, as is support for Israel’s objective to destroy Hamas. Many recite prayers.
But we dangerously err. We miss the opportunity of the underlying truth, and if we continue, vital support will erode. Polls show that a significant minority of Americans support the Palestinians; too many Jews fail to show full support for Israel, and some even support the Palestinians. For more than a generation, “academics” have indoctrinated students and young Jews have been intimidated at our esteemed universities.
The impact and meaning of the death of Israeli children, even babies, and the high numbers — may soon be diminished; In Gaza, Palestinian children and babies will also die. It is not enough to merely state that Hamas is to blame. As the numbers and pictures of dead and wounded fill the news cycle, many will not care. “Humanitarians,” as they often do, will equate Israel with Hamas.
It is not enough to highlight depravity; it is not enough to distinguish between intent. The missed opportunity is in failing to address the ideology and the history – to repeat often, as often as we do the wrenching accounts of terror.
Hamas’s cruel massacre is no different than cruelties inflicted by like-minded people over the years — the bombings of innocents on planes, buses, and eateries, the shooting of Israeli children at schools, the execution of Israeli Olympic athletes, the casting overboard of a wheelchair-bound Jew. Hamas’s recent attack was merely larger and more visually disturbing. But for Jews, how is Hamas materially different from the Nazis?
The Nazis mass-murdered Jews, they killed babies, stripped women of clothing. What needs to be addressed, repeatedly, is the ideology. Deeds follow ideology. Nazis asserted racial superiority; Jews, and Blacks, were inferior. Hamas is dedicated to destroying the Jewish State. Hamas’ charter explicitly affirms armed resistance to liberate Palestine from sea to sea. And Hamas is only one of many who think this way.
The entire ideology, like the Nazi false racial ideology — is based on lies and gross distortions, energized and disseminated propaganda. The heart of the argument is that Jews stole Palestinian land. It is a lie, or at best, a gross distortion. History and ideology are ignored at our peril, literally.
One would need knowledge of the Jews’ ancestral homeland that pre-dates these claims. One would need knowledge of ordinary 19th century Jewish settlers. One would have to know about Arabs who welcomed Jews to a desolate land, which Jews built up, and the Arabs who opposed them. One would have to know about wondrous Jewish achievements in the 1920’s in Israel – and the planned Arab military attacks on Jewish settlements beginning in Hebron in 1929 into the 1930’s. Peace and cooperation shuttered for hateful ideology.
One would have to know about the Peel Commission which, after long study, reluctantly concluded a solution of two separate nations. One would have to know that the Jews accepted a tiny non-contiguous fraction of the British Mandate, which led to the formal November 1947 UN partition plan, and then the May 14, 1948 independence of Israel. One would have to know that the Palestinians observe that as “Nakba,” the tragedy.
One would have to know that Israel was attacked on that day, by six Arab armies, that Jews were so disadvantaged that the US tried to persuade Ben Gurion to not declare its independence, for it feared the Jewish state and Jews would be annihilated. In other words, there is a long history of Jewish acceptance of very little and Arab rejection. Each was a choice.
For another 30 years — despite the UN, Arabs rejected Israel. One would have to know how the 1967 Six-Day War came about, and the beginning of modern terrorism on planes, schools, etc. One would have to know about the attack on Yom ha-Kippurim in 1973.
But then Anwar Sadat of Egypt came to Jerusalem in 1977 to make peace, formalized in the Camp David Accords. Israel gave up much captured territory for peace. Israel has always sought peace. Next came the Oslo Accords in the 1990’s, for peace. Despite withdrawals and support, the terror continued, and Hamas would flourish.
Then Ehud Barak offered Yassir Arafat much more than most Israelis were willing to give. Arafat rejected it and unleashed the intifada. Even Israeli doves woke up; there was no Palestinian peace partner.
In 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza. By 2007 Hamas gained control; the Gazans voted for Hamas rather than the PA. Although there are reasons other than anti-Israel ideology for that vote, much like in 1933 Germany, the ideology came with it.
Arab governments — Abraham Accords, Saudi Arabia, have been moderating. The alternative ideology persists among Hamas and Hizbollah, financed and encouraged by Iran. It is this ideology amidst its history which is at the core of this week’s — and years of — massacres.
What Israel does for peace is unprecedented. Even though for years Hamas has fired rockets into Israel and foments terrorism, Israel’s blockade of Gaza did not include food or medicine. Israel has treated relatives of Hamas terrorists in its hospitals. Israeli soldiers risk their lives to prevent killing innocent Palestinians. Still, Israeli homes are built with shelters; families even now run to them. Our children suffer. We do not need a moral lesson from anyone.
To be sure, Israel and Jews are not perfect. Some Israeli leaders make repugnant statements; some actions, like the rampage by Israeli Jewish settlers that murdered Palestinians, have been despicable, and others, i.e. religious Jews who raise signs: “Death to the Arabs” — a violation of Torah. But nearly all Jews denounce them.
Jews, with perhaps rare exceptions, did not steal Palestinian land. Overwhelmingly, most Arabs who left Israel in 1948 did so despite Jews begging them to stay to live together in peace. They left because war — the Arab attack — has these consequences, because they were urged to leave by their leaders, because they were promised rewards. But those Arabs and Palestinians never take responsibility; it is easy to blame Israel to support its ideology.
Israel is not a colonialist state. Lie. Jews did not settle on behalf of any European power. Israel is not an apartheid state. Lie. Anyone who accepts that does not know apartheid or Israel. Arabs comprise about 10-15% of the Knesset’s elected representatives, serve as judges, study in universities, etc. An Arab Israeli was once Miss Israel. Druze and some other Arabs serve in the IDF.
“Pro-Palestinan” students raise placards: Israel is an apartheid state, a colonialist state. They cannot distinguish between conflict and barbarism. They are brainwashed, not educated. And as much as we should distinguish between terrorists and Palestinains, those who support the ideology and ignore its ramifications, only serve to portray Palestinians as supporters. If they do not support this ideology, now is the time to distinguish, or you do not deserve the label “innocent.” Free American college students have their own minds and souls.
Ignorance — failing to know, in some cases willful ignorance — sows the seeds of false ideology and death — to Jews, to Palestinians, to everyone. Lies do not help Palestinians; they increase suffering and death. Morality and truth are our foundations. We need more than emotion; we need knowledge.
Background of featured image: SIX DAY WAR. AN ISRAELI TROOP CARRIER ON THE EAST BANK OF THE SUEZ CANAL OPPOSITE ISMAILIA, Israel Government Press Office, Source: Wikipedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
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Rabbi Seth D Gordon received his rabbinic s'michah from Rav David Weiss Halivini from the UTJ and has served congregations in Annapolis, Maryland, Bethpage, New York, and St Louis, Missouri. His emphasis is Jewish education. Rabbi Gordon has worked across the board, co-founding a day school in Annapolis, and founded the now defunct African American-Jewish coalition of Anne Arundel County. He also taught in a Jewish Day School on Long Island, NY. He serves on the executive board of the UTJ and is the past Chairman of MORASHAH, its rabbinical organization. He and his wife are blessed with five children and eleven grandchildren; two of their sons, their wives, and five of their grandchildren live in Israel.